THE IRISH SETTEE. 63 



Only by careful and scientific breeding; any remnants of 

 old families carefully and judiciously bred to would, beyond 

 a doubt, bring back the family type and characteristics. I 

 claim to speak with authority on this subject, as I have 

 bred, broken, and shot over them for a space of forty years; 

 in fact, I was born and brought up with them. They have 

 been the playmates and companions of my children, and 

 are part and parcel of my family. The first of my dogs 

 was exhibited in 1868, when Grouse, brother to Plunket, 

 was successful on the bench. 



"Plunket's success as a field-trial winner is well known; 

 his brother Rover was chosen by Stonehenge to represent 

 the true type of an Irish Setter, and my Grouse II., 

 winner of the fifteen-guinea Challenge Cup, Dublin, 1879, 

 was chosen to represent the breed in the ' Book of the Dog,' 

 by Vero Shaw. Absence from England in the service of my 

 country prevented me from doing more than carefully pre- 

 serving my stock; but since my return home, my success 

 on the show bench has been unbroken. As to success in 

 the field, I am to a large extent handicapped, as I have 

 no trainer of my own, and have to depend entirely upon 

 trainers who either have their own interests to serve, to 

 which mine are secondary, or else they are quite incom- 

 petent. 



"Even under circumstances such as these, however, I 

 undoubtedly put the best Setter I may say, indeed, the 

 best as well as the handsomest sporting dog in the field 

 in 1885 Aveline; and, I say it advisedly, she was not 

 allowed to win first in that contest. Aveline met and 

 defeated three of the Llewellin Setters, and her final heat 

 was decided in three and a half minutes! Aveline, now a 

 champion, is a daughter of Frisco and Grouse II.; and 

 as you have asked me as to the most successful cross, I 

 have no hesitation in saying that I have found the Elcho 

 blood, crossed on the Palmerston, to be the most success- 

 ful, both in field and on bench. I say pure Palmerston, 

 because it has come to my knowledge that Palmerston is 

 credited with having served more bitches than he ever 



